https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6069-3166
Figures & data
Figure 1. Heat map of disciplinary distances.
Heat map table. The left column lists degree programs by college. The top row lists the same programs in the same order. Cells in the table are color coded to indicate degree of similarity between programs. Dark green represents very similar majors. White represents very different majors. The diagonal cells in the table are dark green, because they represent self-to-self relationships. Within the table, boxes are drawn around groups of cells to represent majors within the same college. Notable: There is noticeable similarity between some (but not all) majors in the College of Engineering. There is very little overlap between majors in the College of Liberal Arts.
Figure 2. Visualization of cognitive distances between majors, developed in previous study. Figure adapted from (Sonnenberg-Klein, Coyle, and Saigal Citation2023) with permission.
The visualization of cognitive distances is a social network diagram. Each square represents a degree program, and the degree program are color-coded by college. Red is for liberal arts (clustered together on the left), purple is business (one major, to the right of the liberal arts), blue is engineering (clustered further to the right), orange is the college of design (one major above the engineering cluster, and two below and close to each other), green is computing (one major, below engineering), science are green (clustered along the right and top right of the engineering cluster, and black represents jointly administered programs.
Figure 3. Distributions of two measures of interdisciplinarity: Number of majors, and Rao-Stirling diversity index: (a) Teams by Size and Number of Majors (b) Teams by Size and Diversity Index.
Two heat-map bar graphs. The bottom axes on both are labeled, "Number of Students on Team." The left axis is labeled, "Number of Teams." Each block in the graph represents a team. Both figures have the same shape and differ in color distribution. The left graph color codes teams by number of majors, with shades of blue for teams with 2 and three majors, shades of green and yellow for 4-6 majors, and shades of orange and red for 7-9 majors. Shades of orange and red are mainly at the center and right of the distribution. The right graph color codes teams by Rao-Stirling diversity index, with blue for the lowest value and red for the highest. Shades of orange and red are centered on the distribution.
Figure 4. Diversity index by number of majors.
Graph with blue dots, a red line and a yellow line. Left axis: Diversity index. Bottom axis: Number of majors on team. The graph has a scatter plot of blue dots (sample), a red line (maximum possible using distances with equal proportions from each major), and a yellow line (maximum possible for Computing and Engineering majors only, equal proportions from each major). The red and yellow lines begin near 0.25, increase, and then plateau with the red at 0.45 and the yellow below it around 0.36. All of the blue dots fall below the red line, and most fall below the yellow line. The clusters of dots seem to follow the increasing and then plateauing pattern of the lines, with a possible decrease at 9 majors.
Figure 5. Diversity index by team size.
Graph with a blue line that increases and then plateaus, red dots below the blue line, and a yellow line that roughly connects the upper values of red dots. Left axis: Diversity index. Bottom axis: Team size. The yellow is lower than the blue line. It roughly follows the shape of the blue line through a team size of 16, and then it noticeably decreases instead of plateauing.
Figure 6. Rao-Stirling diversity index by team size and number of majors. Note: Number of majors on teams ranged from 2 to 9. For clarity, only three groupings are shown.
Graph with dots in three colors and three dashed lines in the same colors. Left axis: Diversity index. Bottom axis: Team size. Legend: teal dots for 3 majors on team, purple dots for 6 majors on team, and maroon dots for 9 majors on team. Diversity index values for 3 majors are generally lower than for 6, and values for 6 majors are generally lower than for 9. Matching dashed lines are fitted to the scatter plots, and all three fitted lines decrease with team size.
Figure 7. Overlay maps for four VIP teams, each with 7 majors: (a) Patagonia (b) Living Dynamical Systems (c) IOT in Health (d) Concussion Connect.
Overlay maps representing four teams. Nodes (blocks) represent student majors, and node size represents the number of students from the major. Node location is based on the global map. Descriptions of the diagrams are included in the discussion.
Table 1. Team composition and diversity indexes for four teams.